Financial Reporting Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Reporting Research - Essay Example When making this decision, IAS 8.11 requires the management to show the definitions, recognition procedures, and dimension concepts for assets, incomes, liabilities, expenses and liabilities in the accounting Framework. A good financial statement is one that is understandable to every stakeholder of the company with minimum difficulties, thus financial statements should be simple and easy to understand. Two it should be reliable in that potential investors can rely on it to make decisions. Three it should be easy to compare with other financial statements in the market. Last but not least financial statement should be relevant. The information used in the financial statement should be relevant and material for decision making. Therefore, ambiguous information should be avoided when preparing financial information. This will eliminate any essence of misguide to the stakeholders of the company. Financial reporting standards have been revised severally over years to capture the dynamics in accounting sector. They have reviewed severally to incorporate the emerging trends in global business such as mergers, foreign acquisition among others. Before 2001 the world used to prepare financial statements using international accounting standards (IAS) and any revision on international accounting standards after 2001 is referred to as international financial reporting standard. ( IFRS). According international accounting standard 10 financial statement includes a statement of financial position which shows the total assets of the company, long-term and short term liabilities and the companies equity. Second is the statement of comprehensive income which shows the total revenue and expenditures of the company. Third is the statement of changes in equity, statement of cash flow which shows the ability of the company to pay short term debts and notes to the financial position this provides explanations to the financial statement items. International Accounting Standards Board is charged with mandate of reviewing and revising accounting standards. It comprises of fifteen members drawn across the world. It was formed in 2001 as successor of International Accounting standard committee. It has the responsibility of developing international financial reporting standard and revision of international accounting standard to IFRS. (Wood & Sangster, 2005) According to international financial standards a statement of financial position should have a section of noncurrent assets at cost, their accumulated depreciation and the net book value all shown separately. A section of current asset and current liabilities on separate column and then the working capital of the company are calculated as the difference of current assets and current liabilities. Current assets are those assets that can be converted into cash easily while noncurrent assets are those that are expected to remain in the business for a long period. In this statement there is a section of financing ac tivities which show how the company is financed. The total of noncurrent assets and working capital should always equal to finances of the company. This statement shows the total assets of the company, liabilities of the company both short term and long term

The Emirate Airlines And Its Products Tourism Essay

The Emirate Airlines And Its Products Tourism Essay The Emirate Airlines and Its Products Emirate Airlines is the largest airlines in the Middle Eastern region and has been operating over 2,500 flights in a week. It has been operating for 122 cities and over 74 countries in all the six continents. The company has been operating four longest non-stop commercial flights of the top 10 flights. It has also been operating cargo activities for the emirates group under the name of Emirates sky cargo division. The airlines has been a subsidiary of the emirates group which is wholly an organization owned by the government of Dubai having over 50,000 employees and controlled directly by the investment corporation of Dubai. Gulf Air started to decrease their services in Dubai during the mid-80s and resulted in the emergence of the Emirate airlines. It was conceived in the year of 1985 in March and has been financed by the royal family of Dubai. The Dubai Royal Air Wing of the Dubai Royal Family provided two aircraft to the airlines as their first aircrafts. The government provided an initial start-up capital of $10 million and the airlines was to operate independent of government subsidies. The airlines present chairman Ahmed Din Saeed Al Maktoum headed the organization. The Airlines is one of the only nine airlines in the world that are operating an all-wide body fleet of aircrafts, operating a mixture of aircrafts like Boeing and Airbus having a centerpiece as Boeing 777. An order of 90 Airbus A380s has already been ordered by the emirates of which 20 aircrafts has been already delivered and are in service and also after the Singapore airlines is the second Airlines to have the Airbus A380-800 to be in operation after the delivery of their first aircraft on 28 July 2008. The Airline has been one of the largest buyers of the Aircrafts and has purchased over 130 aircrafts in the year of 2007 alone. They has been the largest carrier in the Middle East in terms of fleet size, Passengers carried and revenue and has been ranked amongst the top 10 carriers worldwide as per the passengers and revenue generated by the airlines till 2007. The company was the largest in terms of number of scheduled passenger kilometers flown in the world internationally and has been the fourth largest airline in the world. Also they have been the third largest as per the scheduled freight tonne-kilometers flown. Environmental forces Demographic Environment Dubai being the fastest growing emirates has around 300,000 people that are added to the population of UAE every year (Uaeinteract.com, 2009). The airline sector of UAE has been ever growing as a result of this growth rate and the wide spread geographical area and the densely populated cites of UAE. This has resulted in a larger market compared to smaller countries. It has been observed that most of the population of UAE is comprised of young people and which will result in providing a base for the aviation industry in the coming years. Most of the people that travel through flights are aged 50 or above as they have more time to meet their friends and family as compared to young people who are mostly busy with their life and are working. As a result of large young population there is scope of larger number of older people in the near future. Educated people can afford to travel by air as they have made their earnings. Employees of multinational corporations have to frequently travel to other countries and are very important customers for the Emirate Airlines (Sardone, 2012). As per a survey conducted about 70% of the decisions related to vacation planning are made by women. In Dubai most families so not consult the women in the decision making but in the changing times, women has been influencing the decisions made which are concerned with the safety of the families. In percept of travelling the safety of the family has been a major concern for the women in the family rather than money hence the cost and other travelling opinions are second. The women are more likely to go for a trip that is both economical and safe so the company has to highlight major perspective and add attractive points in order for the women to choose their airlines such that the company can have a safe journey at a minimal cost. Airlines tend to decrease the cost of the tickets of the flight for the destinations which are le ss safe but for a matter of fact women tend to choose safety over cost of the trip (Dragon, 2009). Economic Environment The economic environment is related to the economic policies, economic systems and economic conditions of the country that have a direct effect on the economy and the functioning of the industry as a whole and also on the organization. A country with liberal economic policies has a positive effect on the industry as a result of the indirect influence of the bilateral trade agreements. As the increase in the rate of inflation, cost of fare, cost of fuel and other factors, people tend to avoid travelling by airlines and only travel for unavoidable issues, and also they tend to use cheaper means of travelling. The Global financial crisis did not have much impact on the airlines industry as a result of which currently the airlines industry is booming and Emirates airlines also took a benefit from this. In 2009 the inflation rate of UAE was 3% 4% which was predicted to fall even more, before that it was around 11% which has resulted in less frequent travels around the globe (Uaeinteract.com, 2009). Now as there has been a drop in inflation and the value of currency in the country is high, people have more purchasing power and hence they will intend to travel more and most frequently by air. As a result the airline companies decreases there prices while recession and in boom they tend to increase their fare charges. Socio-Cultural factors UAE has coasts among the Indian Ocean as well as the Persian Gulf hence fishing is an important part of the Arab peopleà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s life. Islam is officially the religion of the people of UAE but still alcohol is available to the non-Muslim people living there and in hotels. The tourism is an important part of the country hence the airline services are also to be modified as per the tourists who come from other countries for the culture of the country and its tourism spots. The cultural and social aspects of environment plays an important role in the success of an organization and company like the Emirate airlines also have to comply to these as they have to work in this society. Keeping all these factors in mind, Emirate airlines frames customized services, promotion techniques and prices. The price product strategy is to be devised such that the cost to those destinations that are being travelled less frequently should be low (AMEInfo, 2012). Political Legal Factors As we are aware the Emirate airlines was very much under political influence during 2000s, the situation was in favor of the airlines. There were many for performing their general operations. Both the national and international laws had to be followed for successful operation in different companies. The prime problems that came to the mind of travelers included instability in international market and relationship between two countries. Emirate airlines fulfilled the NATO standards despite of high oil prices and high regional instability. (Emirates.com, 2012) Technological Environment The prime issues faced by the Emirate Airlines in such an environment include dynamic change in technology, countless opportunities for innovations, varying research and budgets for development. There has been introduction of Airbus A380-880 which provides better comfort to the passengers and due to its lightweight the fuel consumption is also less. Also the introduction of Boeing 777 was another great step in technological advancement as it enables to carry greater number of passengers and is also more fuel efficient. Another important advancement was use of bio-fuels which are more efficient and eco-friendly. For accomplishing this task Emirate Airlines is closely working with the RD division in order to inspire market-oriented research. A lot of other technological changes have been made like;use of internet based technologies to provide proper and easy record keeping of customers and hence provides better services, complaint mechanisms etc. (Emirates, 2012) The Cultural Web Following are the elements of cultural web given by Gerry Johnson (1988) in context to Emirate Airlines Invalid source specified.: Stories Emirate Airlines has been one of the most regarded companies not only in UAE but all over the world. Common external people have always been satisfied with the corporate behavior of Emirate Airlines. People always remark that company has been able to adhere to the needs of community and society. Also, the values of the company are able to meet the needs of environment. The employees also carry high morale while working in the Emirate Airlines due to effective leadership of high level management. Employees always talk about how the management has been able to make sure that employees adhere to the needs of other employees as well as to the internal and external environment. The new joiners are always told about the competencies and excellence of executive level management and motivated to learn many skills for acting effectively in the corporate world. Employees talks about the establishment of Emirate Airlines from just two aircrafts wet-leased from Pakistan International Airport. Th e current top story of Emirate Airlines among employees and stakeholders include the record profit of AED 5.9 billion last year. The heroes of these stories include the names like His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum who has been a pioneer figure in spearheading successful expansion of aviation industry, Sir Maurice Flanagan who is the executive vice chairman of the company, etc. Moreover, the communities belonging to over 100 cities have a great relationship with Emirate Airlines who admirably talk about the community initiatives like Emirate Airline Foundation, Emirate Friendship Hospital Group, Emirate CHES Home, etc. Overall, the company has been successful enough in generating a distinctive organizational behavior that is going to be a role model for rest of the airline industry. Rituals and Routines Customers expect the very diligence in the quality of service that Emirate Airlines has maintained over past several numbers of decades. Also, they like to be served in a standard way without compromising with the cultural variances in the different nations where Emirate Airlines offers services. They always remain satisfied with the companyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s diversity management approaches by which Emirate Airlines ensures the fulfillment of needs and demands of services of clients in global market. However, due to recessions and global economy slowdown customers expects the cutting down of prices of tickets. Furthermore, they always expect yearly newsletters and brochures with updated offers and schemes about tour packages that Emirate Airlines offers. Employees are also very enthusiastic about the benefit programs that companyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s management plan from them. They also expect their positive performance cards examined carefully by the m anagement. They always show enough amount of zeal in participating in the execution of strategic plans meant for improving the performance of company in the market. They seek learning in a friendly environment with their managers, sub-ordinates, and peers. These routines and rituals represent fairly pleasant organizational culture in Emirate Airlines with both customers as well as employees acting considerably in an agreeable manner. Moreover, any change if decided by the management could be easily entertained by the employees as they have an effective leadership to guide them through the change however the company may be required to give higher efforts to get immediate positive response from the customers. Symbols The company carries a symbol of high dignity and decorum with its name representing the matchless quality of products and services. The employees working client-side wears a disciplined and standard uniform while offering the most elegant aviation services to every customer they serve. Inside the organization, employees may find their bosses dressed up in the western corporate formal dresses as well as traditional Emirati dress representing the respect for cultural diversity by the company. The famous logo of the company can be easily found at numerous international airports all around the world along with the numerous cabs, vans, and other vehicles associated with Emirate Airlines. Company also sponsors a number of sport events where players can be seen carrying the logo of the company. These symbols represent high status of company in the airline industry with its unparallel leadership in the aviation services. Staff working in the company is extremely proud of these symbols and ta ke them as a pride while at the same time customers like to be served by the company as well as wearing the caps or t-shirts carrying the logo of Emirate Airlines. Organizational Structure The organizational structure of Emirate Airlines is highly hierarchical right from His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoumas chairman and chief executive of company to the executive level management, senior managers, managers, and lower level employees. All 62,000 employees working in 50 different business units of Emirate Airlines work in a hierarchy for smooth functioning of the company. The employees at the same level of hierarchy work with extreme coordination along with their managers and sub-ordinates in executing the planned work and making miscellaneous decisions during the work. This coordination is quite healthy and favorable for execution of complex strategies related with different aspects of the business. Control Systems Emirate Airlines has a strong control over the costs and quality of services and products that they offer. The customers are optimally charged for the cost of production of services delivered to them. Also, a major emphasis is laid over the cost incurred in getting the work done to have a better control over the expenses. However, quality is the top most priority which is controlled through several checks at the strategic as well as the operational level. The employees are also guided strictly to make no compromise in terms of quality especially when they are dealing with the customers. Moreover, employees are sometimes penalized for poor work if quality is compromised anywhere in the work. Thus, Emirate Airlines is quite particular with its employees when it is dealing with quality and costs. Moreover, every team has adequate number of skillful employees who are headed by the competent managers which are further responsible to the executive level staff. A great emphasis is made that control is executed through a hierarchy of leaders till the ground level employees. The level of bureaucracy is fairly less in the company. Power Structures The power in Emirate Airlines is fairly decentralized with the work being strategically divided among different departments at higher levels. However, at the lower level of management, there are only limited powers bestowed upon the managers. The key decisions are made only at the top level while managers at middle and lower levels have the only responsibility to execute them. The departments such as the service, human resource, passenger sales, etc are solely headed by their respective vice presidents who make the key decisions without much participation from lower levels. But at the same time, these key people have played a great role in the history of Emirate Airlines. They have a great influence over employees as well which help the company quickly and effectively act to different situations. Nevertheless, Emirate Airlines has a considerable power distance in its hierarchy. The Paradigm The summation of all the six elements of cultural web suggests quite an optimistic environment for the work in Emirate Airlines. Although some of the required aspects may be missing from the work culture of Emirate Airlines yet overall ingredients seems to be quite close to the taste of success in the coming future. The motivated employees and satisfied customers are always two targetable goals for any big business set-up and Emirate Airlines seems to have both in the current date. The advantage of such a culture in Emirate Airlines is the easy implementation of framed strategies without much internal resistance however the only disadvantage is less origination of ideas from lower hierarchy and possible dissatisfaction of employees in future that can be harmful for that company as competition increases in the market. An important value in Emirate Airlines is that a sub-ordinate has to blindly follow his/her senior and thus one thing that cannot be done in this company is questioning the senior regarding the procedure of execution of some planned work or advising them to accomplish some task in a different way. This particular aspect is somewhat contrary to that of Boeingà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s work where greater amount of freedom is given to the employees to give their inputs is strategy building. Therefore, I would like the culture at Emirate Airlines changed a bit in order to involve greater participation of employees and lower level managers. Recommendation for change Following are some of the recommendations for change Invalid source specified.: Lower level managers and employees should be provided greater powers to make strategic decisions in the company. An advisory board may be built to take suggestions from the employees and further discuss them before recommending those suggestions to upper level management. Employees should be trained enough to make key decisions on behalf of their managers to make quick operations if managers are absent.

Creation :: essays papers

Creation Isaac Newton, Johann Kepler, Blasie Pascal, Galileo, Michael Faraday, Samuel Morse, George Washington Carver, Gregor Mendel and Louis Pasteur were all scientists who believed in the Biblical Theory of Evolution. I am writing about the Biblical Theory of Evolution because I grew up hearing this theory and I have always wondered exactly what it was and what it all meant. This paper is meant to explain the Biblical Theory of Evolution. The Biblical Theory of Evolution begins with the first book of the bible. The following is what the bible says about creation according to Genesis 1. â€Å"(1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (3) And God said, let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (6) And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. (7) And God made the firmament, and divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the waters, which were above the firmament: and it was so. (8) And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (9) And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it Was so. (10) And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. (11) And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (12) And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in Itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (13) And the evening and the morning were the third day. (14) And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for Signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(15) And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

The links between school bullying and mugging and there affects on individuals lives

Is it possible that school bullying and mugging are closely linked? If so, can they have permanent side – effects on an individual's life? Too tall, too short, too fat, too thin†¦. I hate my hair†¦ I need a better car†¦ I can't wear that dress as I wore it last week†¦. these are the questions I faced the other morning, the silly thing is that I am confident that millions of other people are waking up and lobbying mini arguments within their minds of similar matters. But why are these matters so important? A very open question, yet in all generalisation can be linked to the word SOCIETY. Blumer (1969) identifies this as noted below: â€Å"Basically human behaviour is not determined by social forces. Rather, people are simply self – conscious beings†¦ † He states that due to ones self consciousnesses, questions similar to the ones asked above arise. The self consciousness of an individual is induced by those labels attached to us through the sub cultures in which we exist. These are closely linked to our childhood educational experiences. Control theory implies that social services will decrease levels of deviant behaviour by strengthening the bond between the adolescent and society. Labelling theory implies the reverse, that the process of formal adjudication through the juvenile court will first stabilize and then increase levels of deviant behaviour. Diversion programs were originally developed as an application of labelling theory, with the objectives of minimizing involvement with the juvenile court, referring adolescents to less stigmatizing social services, and ultimately reducing levels of deviant behaviour. An additional issue has been the effect of gender on service delivery to adolescents in the juvenile justice system. This paper examines these four issues using panel data and multiple regression of follow-up on baseline variables. The term ‘bullying' refers not only to physical and verbal abuse, but psychological attacks intended to inflict fear, distress and to physically harm the victim (Farrington, 1993). Extensive research into the bullying/victim relationship shows that there are two distinct groups (or subcultures). For example, Olweus (1991) found that only one bully in ten was also a victim, while only one victim in eighteen was also a bully (taken from Fishman, Mesch, Eisikovits, 2002). This assumption shows that victims and offenders originate from different parts of society and are in fact judged upon popularity and peer acceptance rather than merit. In fact personal merit i. e. educational achievements, alongside social and physical appearance (Salmivalli, 1998) can turn an ordinary individual into a victim within an educational setting. In comparison, perpetrators saw themselves as being physically fit and popular among their peer group. Those who were victims were often those who felt unpopular and lacked the social skills to form peer relationships. According to Farrington (1993), Adolescents who lack good friends have no support when exposed to an offender's aggressive behaviour. The term ‘mugging' refers to a psychological fear and possible physical attack on a victim. When pupils are constantly being assessed and classified, it is on this basis that they are defined as able or less able. Then placed accordingly in particular sets or streams, entered for particular examinations and given or denied access to certain parts of the school curriculum. Teachers are more likely to define middle rather than working class pupils as the ‘able bodies', the ‘good students' and the ‘well – behaved' based on first impressions or certain stereo-types such as a middle class family is more likely to take interest in there child's education. This in turn disadvantages the working class pupils. A label is a major identifying characteristic. If for example, a pupil is labelled as ‘bright', others will respond to him/her and interpret their actions in terms of this label. There is a tendency for self – fulfilling prophecy to result. The pupil will only act in terms of the label and see themselves as bright, thus fulfilling the prophecy others have made. Muggings are thought of, at times, worse than bullying as the ordeal can leave a psychological scar in the way that person may perceive people in the future. The level of this can vary depending on the loss of items or the ordeal itself. All these factors will cause the victim to look at people in a different way, or even change their own behaviour in the future, asking themselves questions like ‘should I take this much money with me? ‘ or ‘should I tuck this chain in? ‘. Bullying is most commonly thought of as occurring in classrooms but unfortunately has a lasting effect on ones development from adolescence to adulthood to the outside world. It is the ‘name calling' and constant ‘teasing' that makes the individual being bullied i. e. the victim, begin to turn into themselves and think about who they really are. They create questions and insecurities within their own thoughts, as to why they in particular have been singled out as the ‘odd one' that does not ‘fit in'. Questions such as what are they calling me, why are they calling me by such names and what factors of myself do I need to change to avoid being called the latter†¦ (Which takes us back to the very beginning of this analysis) †¦ Too tall, too short, too fat too thin†¦. I hate my hair†¦ I need a better car†¦ I can't wear that dress as I wore it last week†¦. The creation of society! If bullying and mugging were earthquakes, the understanding of the epicentre is imperative, the two tectonic plates grinding, causing the earthquake, would be the Labelling theory and Subculture theories. These two theories lend a hand in explaining how and why anti social behaviour such as bullying may arise and its effects on society at large. The Sub cultural theory suggests that society is made up from several sub cultures that can each be defined by their own set of values and norms, separate from those of the wider society. Members within a sub culture share common values and have similar behavioural patterns, often based around social characteristics, such as ethnicity or styles generated by individuals within a sub culture. Sub cultures usually share some features with the host culture, but may also be oppositional to it. Sub cultural theories attempt to explain why these groups, most of which are concerned with ‘youth gangs' and gang delinquency, engage in deviant acts. The theories also analysed the formation of delinquent youth subcultures within the context of strains and pressures exerted by society. According to Cohen (1955) sub cultures are formed within an educational setting due to status deprivation. This is where a desirable ‘status' such as being popular or accepted by peer groups would be sought after by students and invariably be found through creating a sub culture. For those individuals where status was denied, Cohen (1955) again suggesting this to be a direct result of failure by the educational system leading to failure at work, status deprivation was resolved by the formation of primary groups (the most common form of which was gangs) (Cohen, 1955). By creating specific sub cultures, members, predominately young males, allowed themselves to achieve status positions within a structured group therefore satisfying their desire for some form of status (Cohen, 1955). These sub cultures often resulted to violent and aggressive behaviour towards their peer groups, taunting and victimising other youths, both physically and psychologically. Cohen claimed that if the educational system were to allow an alternative outlet for such status satisfaction, then the need to create a sub culture would be destroyed thus avoiding the anti social behaviour such as bullying. Using Cohen's ideas, it can be said that a bully will be looking for a desirable status. The mugger can be seen as one of these subgroups, and can be seen as a subgroup of bullying (taking it one step further by taking someone else's possessions) or as a subgroup of a gang (where the act is carried out within a group). It is possible for this to give the individual, or an individual within a group, a certain level of status and gained acceptance within a group. Where the Sub cultural theory attempts to explain bullying as a result of social definitions and status, interactionsists suggest that this is not the case. Interactionism, according to Blumer (1969) indicates three central beliefs that characterise social behaviour. Firstly, ‘human beings act towards things on the basis of the meaning that things have for them'. This means that human behaviour is not determined by social forces but rather that people are simply self conscious beings. Secondly, ‘the meaning of things is derived from, or arises out of the social interaction that one has with one's fellow's'. Here Blumer (1969) suggests that meanings are not fixed but are continually tailored and adjusted as individuals integrate with one another. Thirdly, ‘group action takes the form of a fitting together of individual lines of action'. Thus society is not so much a determinant of human action as a product of human activity. Social order is therefore inherently fragile, as it is highly dependant on shared, miscellaneous meanings. So the Interactionism idea would explain mugging as the 1st central belief, ‘human beings act towards things on the basis of the meaning that things have for them'. Thus saying, that a mugger may carry out their act based on what they will gain from it, which could be anything from increased wealth to other possessions. An alternative would be that the person only carries out a mugging based on meanings that are adjusted, such as the person will have carried out the mugging based on a new circumstance or new scenario, which would not have been the case the day, week or year before. Already it is clear to see how these two theories present opposing explanations to bullying and mugging. On one hand the sub cultural theory claims that there are rigid norms and values within society, forcing individuals to comply with the rules. It implies that those who do not conform or are deprived the chance to gain social recognition and desired statuses within society are forced to create their own group in which they can achieve status satisfaction. On the other hand, interactionism argues there are no fixed rules but rather ever changing, shared values that are dependent upon social interaction. It suggests that the extent of bullying and mugging is dependent upon how individuals interact within society. From interactionism stems a new approach which once initiated is widely known as the Labelling theory. The classic formation of this theory is that of Howard Becker 63†², who said ‘.. The central fact about deviance (is that) it is created by society. I do not mean this in the way it is ordinarily understood, in which the causes of deviance are located in the social situation of the deviant or in â€Å"social factors† which prompt his action. Rather, those social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitution deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an â€Å"offender†. The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied – deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label'. Howard Becker 63†² Labelling and bullying both occur simultaneously throughout levels in schools. For example, the breakdown of a ‘typical' classroom layout is that of many diversities and similarities at the same time. There are two different approaches when discussing the relationship between social cognition and social behaviour, and specifically, between emotion and bullying. An information-processing model which shows how aggressive behaviour as resulting from processing biases in one or more steps in a 5 stages social information process (Dodge, Pettit, McClaskey and Brown, 1986; Dodge and Feldman, 1990; Crick and Dodge, 1994). It is this theory when applied to bullies and victims that this social skill deficit model tells us that bullies do in fact have similar deficits to aggressive children. However the victims, on the other hand, lack these social skills of assertiveness and group entry. As a direct result, this in turn means they have less experience in social interaction, in the teasing and play fighting which both in family and peer relationships, may enhance the interpretation processes of emotional expression, social skills, sense of control and self-efficacy (Smith, Bowers, Binney and Cowie, 1993). Labelling and mugging occur early on, during school. For example, the mugger is grouped as being from a poor family or labelled as a ‘trouble maker' by their elders. Giving the child a negative image and possible loss in their confidence to perform to what ‘society' expects. The muggers' emotion can vary; one could say that they lack any compassion to their victim and only have their eyes on their reward. But from another perspective, one could say that the mugger may feel compassion but due to the circumstances they are in, they feel like this would be their only solution. Advocates of this power-based theory (i. e. bullies simply bullying others around them to gain power over other less superior individuals than themselves), argue that bullies' desire for power or control is often strengthened by various social stereotypes about bullying including the negative reinforcement of the media (see the earlier discussion on social tolerance of bullying). It is has been said that bullies behaviour is cold and manipulative and that they are experts in social contexts. The problem of their behaviour can be directly related to the many emotions that surround moral transgression such as guilt and shame. Can it then be questioned as to whether; bullies actually understand other children's emotions but simply do not share them; thus lacking in empathy? Or perhaps they merely are unable to identify the suffering and pain in the victims and therefore they lack social skills? How do they feel during a bullying episode? Can and do bullies feel great for having been tough or have they the human emotion of guilt and feeling responsible for what they have done? If labelling exists within the educational system, and we have seen above how it is valid, then it is not only the behaviour of the bully and mugger that must be reprimanded but that of those who attach these labels. Looking at the educational system, it appears that those in authority, like teachers and others working alongside schools and the pupils inflict these labels upon them. By labelling these individuals, teachers will group these individuals into categories or boxes, thus causing divisions and a hierarchy within the class, and the educational system as a whole. This is because individual will tend to act according to the labels attached to them, thus fulfilling a self fulfilling prophecy. So from this we can see that there is a link between muggers and bullies. It can be seen that both want, in most cases, some level of status or acceptance and that both are categorised and labelled. Any individual that experiences either of these will also be left with psychological scars, which in-turn will change the victim in the way they behave or perceive things. The perception and behavioural changes are not likely to change with ease, and could possibly be detrimental to the individual. Social identity argues that social cooperation is a product of activation of a social identity. Social identity can be thought of as the psychological link between the self and the collective, in this case the school community. Through social identification, the school becomes a positive reference group for the pupil. When a student identifies with the school community, he or she sees themselves as interdependent with this community and he or she behaves cooperatively, upholding the school's rules and values. Tyler 1998, made a similar point. He argued that there were two inter-related aspects to self-worth: the collective and the individual. The collective aspect is reflected in pride in being a member of a school community, in terms of education. The individual aspect is reflected in having respect within this community. Tyler said, â€Å"As self-worth within a community increases in terms of pride and respect, social cooperation within that community also increases†. In other words, what each of us does is strive for a sense of belongingness and significance. Not only meeting our individual needs, but becoming a member of a positive reference group is also importance to us in society. After all, we are social animals. Work by Eliza Ahmed and her colleagues (2000) suggest that one barrier that needs to be addressed is the affective barrier associated with shame. The shame associated with a harmful act acts as a barrier to us thinking of ourselves as a fully integrated member of a community. Indeed, recent findings have shown that shame-management has been found to be an important mediating variable in the understanding of bullying and victimization (Ahmed et al. , forthcoming). The maintenance of bonds is mutually related to emotion: emotions are a means of cohesion. Nathanson (1992) has also argued that shame is the central social regulator that governs our social relations with others. Shame, as such, is closely connected with solidarity (in group cooperation) and alienation (out group competition). Humans are inherently social animals; lapses in important social bonds affect us as individuals. Threatened or damaged bonds create an environment for shame. A long period of unacknowledged shame arises from and generates failure of social connectedness as stated by Retzinger, 1991. Shame can be conceptualised as a thermostat; if it fails to function informatively about the state of our social relationships, regulation of relationships becomes impossible. Thus, shame is an important signal about the state of our social relationships. Shame management involves the search for coherence of identity. Acknowledgment of shame can lead to a greater integrity of the self and our social world; shame avoidance can lead to social alienation and conflict with the self and our social world. To conclude, it is safe to say that the links between school bullying and mugging and their affects on individual's lives are very prominent, and it seems both issues are here to stay in the twenty first century. It seems studies have shown that both bullying and mugging can have permanent side – effects on an individual's life. However, it would appear that if these bullies had not been boxed into groups, thus they would not fulfil their prophecy. Batsche and Knoff (1994) assert that the goal of creating safe schools cannot be achieved unless the issue of bullying is adequately addressed. In order to fully examine the issue of bullying, one would need to pay close attention to the structure of determinants of bullying from personal to social factors; focusing on various forms of relationships that exist in not only our personal lives but in our social lives. For example, relationships between bullies and families, schools and society; all affect the way we behave. It is these other relationships among the victims, bullies and bystanders; as well as relationships between counsellors and other school staff, that are all working together as a team combat bullying. These two theories have shown in this discussion that school bullying and mugging are linked and that bullying can only lead to far worse behavioural problems in the future – both physical and mental.

Bureaucracy and self-government Essay

When a government creates policies, regulations, laws and guidelines, it rigorously and astutely applies them through what is called an act and service of public administration. Public administration is then implemented within an organizational structure. The bureaucracy that this structure operates illustrate the various operatives and/or personnel and/or leaders that makes the decision and leads the methodologies, tactics and strategies to implement the said policies, regulations, laws and guidelines. The bureaucracy is likewise responsible in ensuring the efficient and effective ways and means for such act and service. In executing its mandate, public administration must be dynamic. It must have a natural course of evolution and appropriate change and improvements that responds to the multifarious and complex demands of public service; constituent needs and demands and expectations. â€Å"Bureaucracy and Self-Government†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is a book that gives enlightenment and on how concepts of public administration renders its appropriate service to the American people. The Book’s Insights Bureaucracy in its principle is the rational and academic structure of the organizational process in rendering service and implementing policies and procedures of any institution – like the government. The positive principle of bureaucracy has however evolved into a negative context in the modern time wherein red tape and other forms of inadequacies. It is because the bureaucracy in rendering public administration operates within two types of concepts. It is therefore very important and interesting that Dr. Cook laid out in his book that public administration in American politics is operated both within the instrumental concept and in the constitutive concept. The instrumental concept believes that the job of bureaucracy in public administration is to execute the instructions of public officials. Within the simplicity of this concept there lies the insufficiency of complete rendering of public service. That is the reason why Dr. Cook has outlined that the past two centuries of America is a struggle to create life and meaning and expectations of the instrumental concept of public administration and service. The constitutive concept believes that the job of bureaucracy in public administration is to shape and characterize public policy and political community. This concept allows formative methods that bring shape and structure to laws and policies of government. Creativity and dynamic insights and foresights of government officials and public administrators are exercised in using this concept. The concluding insight of Dr. Cook in â€Å"Bureaucracy and Self-Government†¦Ã¢â‚¬  outlines principles of responsible public administration. Firstly, with proper responsibility in governing and administering comes along an unlimited ability. A complete and consummate commitment to adherence to the law must be characterized in the proponents of public administration. Government leaders and officials must take the rule of law as their way of life. Secondly, within the rule of law â€Å"an adequate sphere of constitutionally legitimate independence must be carved†. (Cook, 1996, page 177). This principle is coherent with what government administrators have sworn to in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities. It is important that discretion of the law is carried out with integrity. The Book’s Presentation The book is presented in a very scholarly format. He extensive experience of Dr. Brian J. Cook in the study of politics and public administration render authority on the subject matter. The book is seemingly passionate in pursuing ways and means for public administration to still attain its ideals. The book traced well established historical background that served the impetus on how American government administration and management has evolved – thus providing the foundation of the conduct and manner of public administration of modern day. Whatever the course of history and evolution American politics and public administration may have tracked and traced, the book offers confidence and hope that the better of valor shall surface in public administration in America. The Book’s Author Dr. Brian J. Cook is presently a Professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy in the School of Public and International Affairs of Virginia Tech. He earned his BA degree in Political Science in 1977 from Cleveland State University with magna cum laude honors. His further education in government and politics earned him is masters in 1982 and doctorate in 1984 – both from the University of Maryland. He has taught; lectured and done research on politics and government since 1979. Dr. Cook has been endowed with numerous foundation and university grants and government sponsored research. He has written and published three books: â€Å"Bureaucratic Politics and Regulatory Reform: The EPA and Emissions Trading† (1988); â€Å"Bureaucracy and Self-Government: Reconsidering the Role of Public Administration in American Politics† (1996) and â€Å"Democracy and Administration: Woodrow Wilson’s Ideas and the Challenges of Public Management† (2007). In addition he has written and published numerous book chapters; peer reviewed and non-reviewed articles; book reviews; conference papers and reports covering a very wide array of thoughts, principles and theories in American politics, government, administration policies. (Brian J. Cook Curriculum Vitae, 2008, pages 1-2) Works Cited: Cook, Brian J. Bureaucracy and Self-Government: Reconsidering the Role of Public Administration in American Politics John Hopkins University Press, 1996 Brian J. Cook Curriculum Vitae, September 2008 http://www. cpap. vt. edu/doc/BJC_Curriculum_Vitae_09-08. pdf [accessed 2 June 2009]